It was a dull weekend. Tried these five w/ Susan:1. LinguaFranca Chard AVNI WillametteVlly (13%; www.LinguaFranca.wine) Salem/OR 2016: Light gold color w/ some bubbles that dissipate rapidly; pleasant slight melony/Chard rather shy/quiet slight stony nose; bit dissolved CO2 on front of palate; lightly tart very light melony/Chard/stony/lemony slight tangy rather quiet/restrained flavor; med.long light Chard/melony/stony/chalky/lemony lightly tart finish; no obvious oak; a pleasant/simple/quiet/low-key Chard some like a Sudtirol Chard; rather overpriced at $35.50 (KK)_________________2. Ott GemischterSatz (12%; TerryTheiseSlctn; www.Ott.At) Feuersbrunn 2016: Med.yellow color; lightly fragrant floral/GV/bit white pepper rather quiet/closed slight chalky/mineral/metallic nose; fairly tart/citric/tangy light GV/white pepper/floral/carnations slight stony/chalky rather simple/quiet flavor; med.short light floral/GV/white pepper slight chalky/mineral rather tart quiet/lean/simple finish; an altogether ho-hum/quotidian GV-like white. $22.50 (SFW&S)_________________3. TascantE Buonora DOC: EtnaBianco (12.5%; 100% Carricante; DallaTerraImports/Napa; www.TascadalMerita.It) Tascante Estate/ Castiglione di Sicilia 2016: Light gold color; fairly fragrant/apple/quince rather stony/saline/savory/chalky quite attractive nose: very tart/tangy/rather metallic very light fruity/quince very saline/savory/chalky/mineral rather lean/austere flavor; very long quite tart/tangy/metallic/lean/austere/savory vaguely quince/fruity finish; a classic savory EtnaBianco; probably will age into something interesting but I have no experience w/ older Carricante. $23.00 (AV) _________________4. Nikolaihof Zwickl GrunerVeltliner Wachau (naturtrub; 12%; DemeterCertified BioDynamic; www.Nikolaihof.At; TerryTheiseSlctn) Mautern 2016: Light gold color; small bubbles that eventually dissipate/disolved CO2; rather quiet classic GV/white pepper/ lightly floral/carnations pleasant nose; lightly tart light GV/floral/carnations/white pepper slight earthy/mineral pleasant flavor; long classic GV/floral/carnations/light white pepper rather quiet/low-key attractive finish; a rather simple/quiet GV that's pleasant enough but just that; just skirting the vapid territory; underwhelming. $23.40 (SFW&S)________________5. Sottomano Mate Treiso (13.5%; 100% Brachetto; 40+ yr old vines; GiulianaImports/Boulder) Az.Agr. Sottimano/Nieve 2017: Med.dark color; very strong perfumey/brachetto/floral/lilacs/strawberry lovely nose; rather tart/tangy lean/hard strong Brachetto/floral/lilacs/strawberrys rather Nebb Langhe-like totally dry flavor w/ hard lean tannins; very long strong Brachetto/floral/strawberry/lilacs rather Nebb-like flavor w/ ample hard tannins; beautiful Brachetto aromatics but rather hard/lean/mean on the palate; more like a hard/austere Langhe Nebb than a Brachetto; rather disappointing. $19.80 (SFW&S)____________________________A wee BloodyPulpit:1. LinguaFranca: This is the new OR operation started by LarryStone/DavidHonig/DominiqueLafon. The wines had just come into NM, so thought I'd give the Chard a shot. Pleasant enough but it just didn't have anything special to say to me. Probably won't bother to try the Pinots.________________2. Carricante: There seems to be a small buzz about this grape, espically since KevinHarvey/Rhys has released his EtnaBianco. The EtnaBianco Carricantes I've tried thus far have been rather underwhelming and not spoken much to me. Probably it's the terroir that's the big thing w/ them. I've not yet seen any reason that Carricante should be being planted all up&down the coast of Calif._______________3. Zwikl: This is a wine from a producer I generally like quite a lot. The "naturtrub" refers to a wine that's slightly cloudy. The back label admonishes: :shake btl gently before drinking", presumably to stir up the sediment. The recent WS awarded it a 94, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It doesn't hold a candle to the IngridGroiss GV, that received an 89._______________4. Mate: This is a wine that I generally like yr-in/yr-out because of the beautiful Brachetto aromatics. This '17 had the aromatics right. But on the palate it was quite hard & lean and not very attractive. For Brachetto wines, I tend to prefer the off-dry/frizzante Birbets.Tom